


8 Nights of Danvers Chanukah (Year Three)

by queercapwriting (queergirlwriting)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/F, Jewish Alex Danvers, Scholsen, What am I doing, also, also because needs, also jewish winn schott is important af, and kamala and winn omg they'd have the best time ever together, and miles and iris, anyway, barry allen's also jewish, because like needs, because that's important, from marvel too, holy shit, i figured it'd be great to be represented here, imagine alex in a kippa with her current haircut i mean, jewish lena luthor, jewish supergirl, like imagine wally and peter parker interacting, omg now i want to invite all of the kiddos, one more because Needs., so before yall ask, stop writing tags right this fucking second, supergirl (and superman) have very jewish origins, you can literally google it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-06 17:57:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16837570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queergirlwriting/pseuds/queercapwriting
Summary: And here we are again: another eight nights of the Superfam celebrating Chanukah together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting a day late this year, but that means… bonus! A two-parter today!

There was something about the lights that appealed to her.

Because Christmas lights were beautiful, but Chanukah lights were fire.

Not that she said any of that at boarding school, of course.

Because the most prestigious boarding schools – the most expensive, the ones where Lillian Luthor could spend the most money to keep Lena the farthest away from her – were Christian. Which was fine.

But it was just another part of herself, then, that Lena felt like she had to hide.

Or, not hide, exactly. Just… she had no one to share it with. Chanukah. Everyone was excited about one holiday, and all she wanted was for someone to be excited about hers, too.

About her, in general.

No one ever was.

No one, that is, until Kara Danvers.

But it wasn’t Kara who brought up Chanukah that first year they were all together; when Maggie and Alex were going strong (as opposed to that first year, that first Thanksgiving, when everything was fresh and Alex was barely even out) and Kara was just starting to get Lena to realize that she was worth loving.

Alex had a lot to do with that.

And she had a lot to do with inviting Lena into the Danvers family fold for Chanukah, too.

It was direct: of course it was direct. Lena had come to expect nothing less from Alex.

She’d angled her beer bottle toward Lena – Maggie had been helping her cut back on the alcohol, but she’d been sticking to a single beer lately, so that was major progress – and squinted slightly with a tilted head.

Lena had to hold back a laugh, because she knew for certain that Alex didn’t do that head tilt until after she started dating Maggie.

“You’re going to spend the holidays alone again, aren’t you?”

Lena squinted back teasingly at Alex over her own glass of wine.

“Your sister’s invited me to spend the holidays with you all, but she was vague about what that meant, exactly.”

“It means a boatload of fried potatoes and fried dough. Otherwise known as latkes and donuts.”

“Otherwise known as mouth orgasms,” Winn called from the pool table, where James was teaming up with him to try and defeat Maggie.

Lena and Alex laughed, both blushing slightly, as James laughed and Maggie arched a suggestive eyebrow at Alex.

“You’re Jewish, then,” Lena couldn’t help the slight skip in her heart.

Alex shifted on the bar stool she’d come out on a year earlier.

“I’m sorry,” Lena rushed to cover Alex’s hand with her own, surprised at her own instinct to touch; something that was very, very new.

“No,” Alex shook her head, returning Lena’s touch; something else Lena had to remind herself not to be surprised by. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I just don’t talk about it much. Religion and science, you know?”

Lena nodded silently. She knew all too well, the things people said.

“I guess for me it’s more spiritual? Or cultural? Not even, maybe. Just… like, family. Or, whatever, an idealization of what family used to be, or what I want it to have been, or something. Whatever.”

Lena smiled at Alex’s rambling. “No, that actually makes perfect sense.”

“So you’ll come, then? Maybe help me with the blessings a little? Because there are a lot of things I’m good at.”

“And Hebrew is not one of them,” Maggie swooped down to kiss Alex’s cheek and steal her beer. 

“You’re lucky I love you,” Alex fake-scowled as Lena laughed.

“I know, Danvers. I know.”

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most of these will be one-shots, but since I'm posting two today to catch up, the first two chapters are connected! :) Feel free to let me know what else you'd like to see this holiday <3

_Your sister invited me for Chanukah <3_

She smiled as she sent the text, remembering a time when she was too afraid to send anyone anything as simple – and as immensely complicated – as a simple less than sign and the number three.

Her girlfriend’s response was immediate: it had to be the superpowers.

_Of course she did!!!! But I already invited you. You have to celebrate the holidays with us, Lee. You’re family. <3<3<3_

Lena’s heart skipped several beats, and she stared at the words like she could carve them into her heart and believe them if she only looked at them a little bit longer.

_I got you._

It was a double text that only Kara would know to send; because only Kara would know how deeply Lena would panic at being called family, especially in the context of holidays.

It wasn’t something they hadn’t said before; but Kara wasn’t there to hold her, now, and texting needed a little extra care.

 _I love you_ , was Lena’s only response, because it was the only response that made sense.

She practically heard Kara break the sound barrier on the other side of the country in her exhilaration.

It had been months since they started officially dating; but those words still had that fresh, new, break-the-sound-barrier-with-happiness quality.

Lena was reasonably sure they would never lose that impact.

“Well, you’re all smiles,” Maggie grabbed a stool next to her future sister-in-law. “May I?” she asked before she sat.

Lena sat up straighter, mockingly formal. “You may.”

Maggie chuckled as she sat, and for a few long moments, they sipped their drinks in amiable silence, watching James and Winn lose spectacularly to Alex at pool.

“It was weird for me, too,” Maggie said without prompting, without taking her eyes off the game, so Lena wouldn’t have the added pressure of being looked at during this conversation.

“Having the Danvers girls call you family?”

“Yeah, and then stuff you to the brink with latkes and jelly donuts.”

“I have to say I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m terrified.”

They turned and made eye contact, both recognizing the immensity of the admission. Maggie gulped.

“Well, it’s terrifying,” Lena reasoned, and they both – as though by unspoken agreement deciding to acknowledge the increased intimacy passing between them by diffusing it as much as they could – “growing up in the families we did.”

“Yeah, our parents are real award winners, huh?”

They clinked glasses, again without making eye contact, and they both smiled as James swept Alex up around the waist, and she let him, laughing and laughing as Winn took photos on his phone.

“Is this what it’s like?” Lena asked, nodding toward their friends. “Chanukah with the Danvers?”

Maggie laughed softly. “Yeah. Something like this. Except Alex gets… sad. Somber. Because of her father. And Kara…”

“I get both super festive and then super inconsolable because I love holidays but literally no one on Earth really knows the holidays I grew up with.”

Kara was suddenly on the stool across from them, holding Lena’s hand.

“Who are you, Barry Allen?”

Kara preened as she leaned across the table to kiss Lena. “I’ve beaten him in a race.”

“And I can imagine him breaking through time again just to prove you wrong,” Lena chuckled.

“Ooh, he might not have to! He’s coming, too! To Chanukah!”

Lena both smiled and panicked.

“So is it a big thing? Your Chanukah celebrations?”

Kara kissed Lena’s hand, caressing each knuckle with her lips before moving on to the next.

“Some years it is, some years it isn’t. This year, everyone’s… well, we’ve all had a tough go of it. So we wanted to really bring the whole family together.”

“And you’re still going to eat at least half of the donuts,” Maggie teased.

Kara pffted and spluttered. “No!”

“Yeah, Maggie, why are you insisting on inaccuracy? My girlfriend would never eat half the donuts.”

Kara crossed her arms over her chest and nodded smugly.

“She’ll eat at least a solid three-quarters.”

The three of them laughed like they never would get the chance to again; but together? Of course they would.

It was almost Chanukah, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

“Absolutely not.”

“But I can do it!”

“Alex, no.”

“Alex yes.”

Maggie sighed and barely suppressed a grin. “We’re not telling anyone that exchange happened.”

“Well, Kara probably heard it from across the city with her superhearing.”

“No one else.”

“Maggie.”

“Alex?”

“You’re avoiding the subject.”

Maggie sighed again, this time even more dramatically. It made her melt to see Alex this soft, when she spent so much time and emotional energy trying to be hard.

But still.

The answer was no.

“Sweetie, I love you. I love you so, so, so damn much. And that’s exactly why I’m drawing the line here.”

Alex pouted, and Maggie had to look away before she was guaranteed to lose this argument.

“Babe. I go into the field all the time without so much as a helmet on like the rest of my agents do, and you’re fine with that.”

“I’m not fine with – “

“So if I can go into literal death zones and survive every single time, what makes you think I can’t do this? Don’t you believe in me?”

She tried pouting again, and Maggie turned, pointing toward the ceiling.

“I do believe in you, babe. But I also believe that you’re consistent. And that consistency means that this is the fifth fire alarm we’ve had in the last two months.”

“Sixth,” Alex murmured, blushing with her eyes down at the ground. “There was an incident with me and Kara and the waffle maker when you weren’t home.”

“Danvers.”

“Maggie.”

“I don’t understand why you break them every time. Just turn them off temporarily, babe.”

“They’re infuriating, Mags! The way they blare, it’s like you’d think I’m setting the entire apartment on fire!”

“Well, babe, I – “

“That was one time!” 

Maggie sighed and they held each other’s gaze, both fighting not to laugh.

“I’d really love it if we could buy latkes, babe. Or I could make them with Winn.”

Alex pffted. “I’m more domestic than Winn Schott.” 

As though on cue, the door opened, and Winn stepped inside from the cold, balancing two big boxes in his hand.

“I brought the latkes!” he exclaimed victoriously, and Alex mock glared while Maggie smirked and rushed to help Winn.

“None of you believe in me,” Alex muttered, fixing a cold stare at the fire alarm.

Maggie tip-toed back to Alex, holding a freshly-made latke up in her hands, eyes wide and playful.

“A peace offering, babe?”

Alex narrowed her eyes but leaned forward to take a bite. She groaned in pleasure, and Maggie beamed and gulped, both innocently pleased and turned on at the same time.

“You like them, then?” she asked, leaning closer to kiss Alex’s ecstatic mouth.

“Mmhmm,” Alex conceded, still reveling in the potato-y goodness.

“Awww, you two are my favorite couple,” Winn smiled around his own mouthful of latkes.

“Don’t let Kara and Lena hear you say that,” Maggie laughed as they all proceeded to bustle around the apartment, readying the space for candle lighting.

Alex kept away from the stove, and the fire alarm, for once, had some rest.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Supercorp high school AU

They had holidays back on Krypton, but not like this.

Not with miracles like fried potatoes and fried dough with gooey sweetness inside.

It was Kara’s first year on Earth, and she already loved Chanukah.

And, she’d noticed – and Eliza and Jeremiah had gone through great pains to explain – that holidays on Earth were generally to be spent with people you love.

And while Kara didn’t have much experience with romantic love, she was pretty sure she was – what was that James always said? – head over heels (which she found funny, because she was always head over heels, unless she was flying) for Lena Luthor.

So she modeled herself after Maggie Sawyer: Maggie, who had told her excitedly that for Valentine’s Day (something to do with old Earth history and lots of chocolate), she planned to put a single rose on each of the desks Alex used throughout her classes, so that she had a whole bouquet by the end of the day.

Since Chanukah was so long by Earth standards, Kara thought she would do something similar for Lena.

So the afternoon before the first night of Chanukah, she slipped a note into Lena’s locker, like she’d seen Alex and Maggie and Winn and James do with each other.

The note said, simply, “Happy Hanukkah. You deserve it, because you deserve everything happy. –KZED”

She watched from her own locker as Lena found her note. It made her blush and smile and immediately look Kara’s way.

Rao.

She thought she’d been subtle.

Apparently not.

And apparently, Lena didn’t mind one bit.

So Kara went through with the rest of her plan, and watched with glee as Lena went to her locker each afternoon with more and more eagerness.

The second day, Kara left her a stuffed animal giraffe (wheedling her locker open with a subtle display of super strength), with a note attached that said, “So that you will always be close to the stars. Get it? Because their necks are so long? Happy Chanukah (did you know how many different ways there are to spell this? Wow). – KZED.” 

The third day, a box of chocolates. Because this Valentine’s Day thing couldn’t possibly be the only Earth holiday where it was appropriate to give chocolate.

The fourth, a music box that she made with Jeremiah; Lena nearly cried when she wound it up to find that it played an acoustic version of her favorite Evanescence song.

The fifth, Kara gave Lena a photo of the two of them on a field trip together, earlier in the fall. She’d put it in a nice frame; a space-like frame, with nebulae and distant gas giants ringing the image of their easy laughter.

The sixth, another stuffed animal: this time, of those furry creatures from Star Wars who refused to let their planet get taken by the Empire. Lena carried them – along with her giraffe – around all the next day.

The seventh, Kara slipped an ugly Chanukah sweater into Lena’s locker, featuring dancing menorahs and singing stars. Lena immediately tugged it over her head.

On the last day of Chanukah, when Kara opened her own locker – on her way to get to Lena’s – an unexpected piece of paper fell out.

Kara got so engrossed in reading it that she didn’t notice Lena standing near her locker, a nervous and hopeful smile on her face.

“Kara, or should I say KZED? Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the beautiful week you’ve given me. I’ve never been cared for like this, paid attention to like this. Thank you. You… you deserve it, too. Everything happy. I can’t promise you that, but I can promise you hot chocolate, potstickers, and an evening at an ice skating rink? If you want to come? Tonight? As a date? If you want. Happy ©han(n)uk(k)ah indeed, darling. Yours, Lena.”

On the last day of Chanukah, Kara Zor-El Danvers got her first kiss.

And it was, in fact, the happiest of the happy things.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the lights get lit by Kara's eyes.

Except for her self-destructive party phase in grad school – one that she would regret deeply if it hadn’t meant that J’onn finally reached out and made contact with her – Alex had always come home for candle lighting.

As a teenager, after Jeremiah “died”, she threatened not to come home, every night for eight nights, every year for years.

Yet every night, she did.

Alex didn’t have much stable in her life except for her love for science and her love for her sister (and that, as a teenager, was far from stable for a while there), so when she had traditions, she liked to keep them. A lot.

They were, among other things, a way to keep her close to the father she remembered, instead of the man that tried to rationalize genocide with her name.

But the schedule of the DEO didn’t have any regard for tradition.

The only traditions there were that particularly poignant moments would inevitably get interrupted some way, some how; that everyone would interchangeably use Kara and Supergirl’s names, and refer to the Kryptonian as Alex’s sister, yet somehow claim that their nondisclosure agreements were rock solid.

So, naturally, just as Alex was rushing to leave, to head home for candle lighting, disaster struck.

She led her team out into the field, but her entire body buzzed with agitated anxiety the entire time.

She rushed the job and she nearly took a bullet in the shoulder; she let her frustration get the best of her and Supergirl had to heat-vision the ground in front of her to prevent her from taking an unnecessary risk.

No one was hurt, in the end, but the sun was setting; and Alex still needed to go back to HQ to debrief.

She was muttering curses to herself as her agents swept the scene when a pair of familiar hands slipped gently around her waist. She sank backwards, all the the tension instantly leaving her bloodstream.

“Maggie,” she murmured, letting her head tilt to the side to allow her wife access to her neck.

“I brought you something, babe,” Maggie whispered, standing on tip toes to kiss Alex’s cheek before turning her around.

Winn was balancing a small steel box from the back of one of the DEO vans on the ground, and James was fumbling with a box of candles while Lena set a menorah down on the makeshift table.

“Wanna do the honors, babe?” Maggie kissed Alex’s reddened knuckles as tears filled Alex’s eyes.

“Family doesn’t miss lighting,” J’onn put his arm around Alex and kissed her forehead as Supergirl landed by them all and took Alex’s hand into her own. 

“How?” Alex asked, looking distinctly up so no tears dropped.

“Well, we knew you had a late mission, so we all got together and – “

“No, Schott. I meant how are we going to physically light them?”

Kara’s eyes lit up – literally – in response.

It was certainly a first, lighting the menorah with heat vision. But now that it had worked its way into their family tradition, it wouldn’t be the last.


	6. Chapter 6

They’d gotten snowed in. 

Of course they’d gotten snowed in.

Well, technically, Supergirl could just have heat-visioned them all out of it.

But really, she had no incentive to.

Because she was home alone with Lena Luthor; they had an almost absurd supply of potstickers and ice cream and wine and old musicals, and Lena had a very… well… attractive collection of pajamas.

So Kara wasn’t about to complain. 

They lit the menorah where they always did, by Lena’s balcony. 

Lena murmured the blessings in a confident but still somewhat shy Hebrew, and Kara added her own Kryptonian interpretation. 

It was new, to her; being able to share prayer with someone, that she felt deep in her bones.

She knew a little something about needing light.

“It’s snowing,” Lena whispered as they watched the candles flicker, with a background of a snow-filled National City outside.

It almost never snowed in National City.

It couldn’t be more perfect.

“Dance with me?” Kara asked, grabbing Lena’s slippers and thickest, fluffiest robe for her girlfriend, and nothing for her. 

She didn’t get cold.

Not on this planet, anyway.

Lena took her hand and giggled as Kara slid open the door to her balcony with a romantic flare that, when they first were getting to know each other and Kara stammered her way through flying to Lena’s office on a bus, Lena wouldn’t have suspected she had an aptitude for.

In this case, she loved being wrong.

So they danced in the snow, Kara humming something tuneless and ethereal, Lena shivering against the cold and into Kara’s arms. 

“I love you,” she whispered, and Kara didn’t need her super hearing to detect the tremble in her voice.

“I love you back,” she murmured, and the lights on the menorah seemed to flicker in agreement.

“Happy Chanukah, Lena.”

“Happy Chanukah, Kara.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A companion piece to Night 6.

They’d gotten snowed in.

Of course they’d gotten snowed in.

Well, National City’s version of snowed in, anyway.

“It’s barely even actually snowing,” Maggie teased, because in Blue Springs, Nebraska, this white fluff practically counted as rain.

But Alex?

Alex was entranced.

Maggie’s skepticism melted in the flush of her girlfriend’s smile.

“It’s beautiful,” she giggled with her arms spread out behind her, an extended version of her adorable gay shrug, and Maggie found herself wondering how this woman made her fall in love with her – again and again and again – every single day.

“Yeah, it is,” Maggie agreed, looking at Alex more than she was looking at the snow.

“Wanna light, and then I can make us portable hot chocolate and we can watch the snow outside?”

“Portable hot chocolate?” Alex flirted sweetly, kissing Maggie’s nose and nodding her assent like an overeager puppy.

Maggie shrugged, smiling somewhat sadly. “Something my mom used to say when I would go in the snow with my cousins. Before high school, obviously.”

“Mags,” Alex whispered, sobering immediately and kissing her more seriously.

“Thanks, sweetie,” Maggie nodded into her comfort. “But I’m good. It’s easier to talk about them. When I’m with you.”

“Good,” Alex kissed the rim on her ear, and Maggie couldn’t help but giggle.

“I love you,” she reminded her, and Maggie couldn’t help but melt.

“And, marshmallows in the hot chocolate!” Alex double-reminded her, and Maggie couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the woman she’d marry tomorrow if she asked.

But maybe she would ask, after they lit the menorah, tonight.

Snow falling out of the sky like glistening stars, Alex’s eyes lit up like solar systems being born?

Maybe she would ask, after they lit the menorah.

Because they were ready, for anything and everything. 

Together.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash x Supergirl crossover celebration

Alex knew she’d forgotten something.

She knew, that when she and Maggie got caught up making out like giddy teenagers instead of adult married wives preparing their home for a massive amount of company, she was forgetting something.

It was totally worth it, but still – it was tickling the back of her mind, that feeling like she’d forgotten to do something.

And then Barry Allen came racing into the room with her little sister – through the window, because of course they came through the window – and she remembered.

She’d forgotten to clamp down all the flyables.

Napkins, papers, went everywhere. The paper bowls and biodegradable utensils they’d elected to use – less dishes to do later – went everywhere.

Damn superspeed and its damn –

“I’ll help clean up,” a welcome voice called through the front door, and Alex laughed as she tugged it open.

“Iris West-Allen,” she smiled, and pulled Iris into her arms.

Wally glommed onto the hug, tickling Alex’s ribs somewhat. She gave a happy little shriek, and Maggie just stood back for a moment, marveling in these people – literally from another universe – who could make her wife this happy.

“Hey, Mags,” Wally embraced her, too, and she remembered why they hosted these things not just on Chanukah, but several times a year, sometimes for no reason at all.

Family.

“Absolutely not, I got here a split second before you did,” Kara was pouting in the living room, and Barry trembled against its might.

“Okay. You can have the first latke,” he conceded, because Barry Allen was many things – but no one had the superpower needed to resist a pout from a Danvers girl.

Kara squeed, giggling, hugged Barry, and shrieked when she caught a glimpse of Iris and Wally over his shoulder.

“I used to have eardrums!” Barry called after her, but he was smiling broad and wide.

“And I used to have a sister who didn’t make inter-dimensional phone calls, but we all know how that goes,” Alex pretended to be threatening, but it just didn’t work.

Barry opened his arms wide, and with a relenting sigh, Alex hugged him.

“Where’s Cisco and Caitlin? Shouldn’t they be – “

A portal opened up in the middle of the living room.

Again.

And, again, everything that wasn’t essentially weighted or glued down went flying.

Maggie groaned, but there was no actual irritation in it.

This was the good kind of messy family could be.

When Cisco emerged from the portal, though, it wasn’t just with Caitlin. They’d brought Felicity and Sara and Oliver and John.

“Yessss,” Maggie jogged to hug John as he stepped, queasily, out of the portal.

“I’ll never get used to this stuff,” he shook his head even as he kissed the top of Maggie’s.

“We wrecked your living room again, didn’t we?” Caitlin squinted in regret as Iris and Wally rolled their eyes in the background.

“Wrecked is all a matter of perspective, I guess?” Felicity adjusted her glasses and gingerly avoided stepping on some fallen paper plates.

“I’d like to point out that I was well-behaved and took the stairs with my sister like a good house guest,” he said smugly, and Sara stuck her tongue out at him. 

Vibe took off his goggles, and hugged Kara. “Good to see you, Supergirl,” he teased, and helped him off with his gauntlets.

“Thanks for getting everyone here, Cisco.”

“Always,” he grinned, just as the front door opened again.

Lena, J’onn, James, and Winn piled into the apartment, and Kara immediately shifted to kiss her wife on the mouth.

“Yesss, baby Danvers,” Sara high-fived Alex. J’onn chuckled and went off to greet Oliver – someone almost as faux-grave as he was – and deposit the jelly donuts he’d brought onto free counter space.

As they all settled in – Iris with her arms around Barry’s waist, James with his head on Winn’s shoulder, and Kara and Alex holding hands as both of their wives held them – the sun began to set and the mood began to shift.

Not negatively, just… more somber.

More in keeping with all they’d loved, and all they’d lost.

More in keeping with the intensity underneath the surface that bonded them all, for good.

Kara wordlessly passed Alex the last of the Chanukah candles – the last nine in the box – and Alex kissed her sister’s cheek in thanks.

“All good?” she asked, and Lena kissed the back of Kara’s neck as they all nodded.

Barry, Felicity, and Alex murmured in Hebrew; Iris and Wally murmured in English; and Kara brought an old Kryptonian prayer to the windowsill.

Candlelight reflected on all their faces for a long, quiet moment; before Barry and Kara raced to see who got the latkes first.

Because unbridled joy, in this family, was never very far away.


End file.
